Thursday, July 10, 2008

Thanks to the Parent Bloggers Network, The Savvy Source for Parents and Leap Frog, a few weeks ago Sam got a fantastic new present in the mail. It was a Leap Frog Tag reader, and from the first moment he simply adored it. The way this fun little gadget works is really cool. It looks like a thick pen, which is easy for little hands to hold. Once you install the software on your computer you can download books onto it just like an ipod. But it doesn't just read the book. When you touch the tip of the book to the pages it can read them or you can use it to play games! Our package came with three books, including Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, one of Sam's absolute favorites. He loves it so much that he's barely even looked at the other two. As an added bonus to moms and dads, it has a headphone jack so it would be a great take along item for a plane or car trip.

The Leap Frog is working in conjunction with The Savvy Source for Parents on this outreach. The Savvy Source widget you see over there in the sidebar is filled with questions about your preschooler. Once you complete the quizzes (there are 8: visual arts, language development, early science, music, early math, social skills, movement and coordination, and orientation in time and space) you are given a list of games, toys and activities that would be useful for your child's development. The quizzes don't take too long, but you can save you results and finish later if you get overwhelmed. The list items range from activities suggested by other parents (which are usually FREE) or things you can buy.

We tried several activities, but Sam's #1 favorite involved sorting and counting M&Ms. I had him separate them by color and once he counted each pile he was allowed to eat them. I'm sure you can figure out why he liked this one! Also, since we already had a few of the books recommended in the visual arts guide, we focused on them at bedtime.

Finally, the part of the Savvy Source site that I really think has the most potential is the pre-school assessment quiz. When choosing Sam's current school we had to really just go with our gut after touring and meeting with staff members from different places. On the Savvy Source page parents can answer questions about their child's school for something of a data base. Once enough data gets collected this will be an awesome online resource for parents when choosing schools.

By the way, if you are interested in running the Savvy Source widget on your blog, drop me a line at cheeseparty@gmail.com. You could make a little bank from your blog!